Group News

Group News 2025

January - Chrissy and AJ pioneer the new Semester in Biomedical Sciences program at the Trudeau Institute!

February - Liberal arts collab! Max and two BMB students (Naima and Annie) coauthor an article in History of Pharmacy and Pharmaceuticals with History Professor (and project PI) Mackenzie Cooley! 

March - Mega ACS San Diego trip - Joe, Dasomie, Lauren, Arshdeep, Rejoice, Beau, Carolyn, Meredith, Maddie, and John present posters at ACS! Max presents at ACS.

May - Group C&C awards! Prim (Langa Prize), Carolyn (Carter Prize), Ryan & Dasomie (Biochemistry/Molecular Biology Prize), and Max (Lang Prize) - lots of prizes!

June - Majireck group NSF grant renewal! Three more years or pyridinium salts!

Upcoming - Organic Syntheses PUI Symposium / Conference (ACS DC), Seminars at Penn State and Clemson.

Past Group News

2024 Highlights: So many group awards: Joe (Fillius/Drown), Prim (Bowman / Class of 2003 Scholarship), Yuxuan (Coleman/Burke), John (ACS/Norton), Alex (Norton), Dasomie (ACS DOC), Arshdeep (ABRCMS presentation award). Mega ACS New Orleans trip - Joe, Kimberly, Ryan, Carolyn, Prim, Elise, John, Will, Alex, and Zoe present posters at ACS. Arshdeep and Rejoice present at ABRCMS. Max presents at FloHet, ACS, and Trudeau Institute. Large-scale synthesis of our main pyridinium ketene hemiaminal reagent published in Organic Syntheses with John, Will and Joel! Another big group paper (21 co-authors over 4 years), this time on 2-aminopyridine synthesis featured on the cover of Organic Letters along with Chrissy's artwork!

October - Our group's pyridinium salt reagent (CAS# 2244583-63-7) is now commercially available! Thank you Oakwood Chemical!

2023 Highlights: Luke Cohen-Abeles wins the Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Senior Prize and is inducted into Sigma Xi! Ryan and Mark receive REU internships for Rochester and Johns Hopkins, respectively. Acta Cryst E paper for Zoe, Bella, Chrissy, and Christie; only the second x-ray structure ever of a bench-stable pyridinium ketene hemiaminal. Majireck Lab / MMRI collaborations in the news! (link 1 and link 2). Carolyn Levin wins a Charles A. Dana Prize Scholarship Convocation Prize and Prim Udomphan wins the Grant ’21 and Silas ’52 Keehn Prize Scholarship! Prim and Naima win poster awards at ABRCMS!

2022 Highlights: Majireck group receives NSF funding (link) and a collaborative AHA grant with MMRI (link)! Max presents the groups' research at ACS, FloHet, Union College, and MMRI. Joel Adade receives Hamilton's highest student honor (which comes with a gold watch) - the James Soper Merril Award! Eva wins the Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Senior Prize! Max receives an early career Dean's Scholarly Achievement award. Joel, Jake, and Caleb elected to Sigma Xi! Chrissy Crespo wins The Charles A. Dana Prize Scholarship Convocation Prize! Ryan Rahman wins the CRC Press First Year Prize in Chemistry! Naima Akter, Chrissy Crespo, and Christie Lam present their research at ABRCMS (link) and SERMACS (link)! Chrissy wins ABRCMS poster prize! Max becomes an Affiliated Faculty Member at MMRI. (link)

2021 Highlights: Amy Glanzer wins the Norton Prize, the departments highest research award. Majireck group receives a research grant from Organic Syntheses, Inc. Max and 20 undergraduate co-authors publish in J. Org. Chem. Amy, Holly, and David elected to Sigma Xi.

2020 Highlights: Alisha Blades and Danielle McConnell share the Norton Prize, the departments highest research award. Former member Caroline is valedictorian! Max and former group member (current MD/PhD candidate at U. Rochester) John Bennett publish a massive book chapter on 1,2-oxazines in Comprehensive Heterocyclic Chemistry IV. Max is co-author on publication with his former undergraduate mentor, Chuck Kriley, in J. Chem. Crystallography. Alisha, Danielle, and Kristen elected to Sigma Xi.

2019 Highlights: Max is tenured, phew! Alisha awarded Levitt Center grant to make the chemistry department more green. Max contributes to a book chapter on small-molecule modulators of quorum sensing along with collaborator Raj Mohan. Phoebe, Danielle Rodrigues, Emily, and Ash elected to Sigma Xi. Both Danielles, Alisha, and Phoebe present at ACS Orlando.

2018 Highlights: Majireck group and collaborators publish in Molecules on the first bench-stable pyridinium ketene hemiaminals. Max and Gio star in recorded procedures of their N-(2-alkoxyvinyl)sulfonamide chemistry for J. Vis. Exp. Gio and Justin elected to Sigma Xi. Alisha, Phoebe, Gio, Mackenzie, and both Danielle's present at ACS New Orleans. Amar presents at NY6 / St. Lawrence.

2017 Highlights: Max and 5 student co-authors publish the groups first report in Tetrahedron Lett. Jon Shapiro and Chris Williams share the Norton Prize, the departments highest research award. Max is a co-PI on collaborative New York Six (NY6) grant with Raj Mohan (Colgate) and Erin Pelkey (Hobart & William Smith). Ben Schafer, Chris, and Jon elected to Sigma Xi. Gio, Mackenzie, Alisha, Caroline, Phoebe, Olivia, and both Danielles present at NY6 / Skidmore.

2016 Highlights: John Bennett wins the Norton Prize, the departments highest research award. John and Ben elected to Sigma Xi. Jon, Chris, and Ben present at ACS San Francisco.

2015 Highlights: Reese Majireck joins the world! Ben Wesley receives Sigma Xi Grants-in-aid-of-Research funding. Esther Cleary wins the Norton Prize, the departments highest research award. Esther, Kathleen, John, Chris, and both Bens present at ACS Boston. Max wins Class of 1963 Excellence in Teaching Award and Levitt Center Social Innovation and Transformational Leadership Grant.

2014 Highlights: Ben Wesley joins the lab as the first non-thesis student! Max wins Class of 1966 Career Development Award.

2013 Highlights: Chris and Katie become the first two Majireck group members and senior thesis students! Max presents at NERM 2013